Apple Cider Vinegar

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1 Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1.1 What is it?
2 Mother
3 Acetobacter
4 More about apple cider vinegar
5 Forums
- 5.1 Technorati Tags

Apple Cider Vinegar

The benefits of including apple cider vinegar in a human diet are really quite impressive. There's so much research data, case study material and conjecture that it's difficult to know where to begin. So lets' start by describing apple cider vinegar itself.

What is it?

Apple cider vinegar is the result of acetification of cider, which itself is fermented from fresh apple juice. The process of turning acohol into vinegar requires the presence of something called "Mother of vinegar" and it is this mother which is thought to be most beneficial for the health.

Mother

Mother of vinegar is a kind of slime that develops on fermenting alcoholic liquids. It is composed of a type of cellulose with acetic acid bacteria, also known as ascetobacter. This then turns alcohol into acetic acid in the presence of a little oxygen or else sometimes anaerobically. It is used industrially for deliberate addition to wine, cider, or other alcoholic liquids in order to make commercial vinegar.

Mother of vinegar can also form in store-bought vinegar if there is some non-fermented sugar and/or alcohol contained in the vinegar. While not appetizing in appearance, mother of vinegar is completely harmless and vinegar does not have to be discarded because of it. It can be filtered out using a coffee filter, or simply left in and ignored.

Acetobacter

Acetobacter is often defined as a genus or family of acetic acid bacteria which is characterized by its ability to convert alcohol (ethanol) into acetic acid (vinegar), usually in the presence of air. But there are in fact several species within this genus, and then there are also some other bacteria which are quite capable of forming acetic acid under various conditions, and all bacteria which can perform the function are referred to as Acetobacter. So it's kind of like a generic name for anything that will do the job, if you see what I mean.

Acetobacter are of particular importance commercially, because:

they are used in the production of vinegar (intentionally converting the ethanol in the wine to acetic acid);
they can destroy good cider through being unintentionally introduced, and then producing excessive amounts of acetic acid or ethyl acetate, both of which can render the cider undrinkable.
they are used to intentionally acidify beer during long maturation periods in the production of traditional Flemish Sour Ales;

The growth of Acetobacter in cider can be suppressed through effective sanitation, by complete exclusion of air from wine in storage, and by the use of moderate amounts of sulfur dioxide SO2 in the cider as a preservative.

Acetobacter can be easily distinguished in the laboratory by their growth of colonies on a medium containing about 7% ethanol, and enough calcium carbonate to render the medium partially opaque. When Acetobacter colonies form enough acetic acid from the ethanol, the calcium carbonate around the colonies dissolves, forming a very distinct clear zone.